Hidilyn Diaz advises sports bodies to listen to athletes: 'Hindi kaya ng atleta na mag-isa'

Hidilyn Diaz may be the first to deliver an Olympic gold medal to the Philippines, but she hopes she won't be the last.

The Filipina weightlifter on Thursday said that she is hopeful that sports governing bodies would learn from her story, especially when she needed to plead for financial help just to be able to continue with her Tokyo buildup.

With enough support from the national sports associations (NSAs) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Diaz is positive athletes can land on the podium at the Olympics.

"Siguro ang advice ko sa sports governing bodies ay makinig," she said in a forum with the Foreign Correspondent Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).

"Or tignan kung ano ba talaga ang kailangan ng isang atleta. Kasi iba yung pangangailangan ng atleta sa ngayon and pinaguusapan natin dito ay medalya sa Olympics."

[My advice for the governing bodies would be to listen. Or see what the athletes really need because the needs of athletes are different now than before. And we are talking about an Olympic medal here.]

Diaz said she proved that Filipinos can win in the highest level of sports competition and stressed that with enough support, more athletes can follow suit.

"Good thing ngayon, naintindihan nila at nakita nila yung hinihingi ko or yung nirerequest ko para naman sa bansa... So yung susunod, at least alam na nila kung yung kailangan talaga ng atleta ."

[The good thing is they understood me that what I asked for and requested, that's for the country... So in the future, they would know what our athletes really need.]

Diaz, who set the Olympic record for her category after lifting a 127 kg in her clean and jerk attempt, also stressed that athletes can't do everything themselves.

"Hindi kaya ng atleta ng mag-isa. Kailangan nila ng tulong ng NSA, ng PSC, ng private sponsors."

[Athletes can't do it alone. They need the support of the NSA, the PSC, and private sponsors.]

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News